Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford says she will not run for a vacant seat in Congress. / Bruce Smith, AP

by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford said Monday she will not run for Congress.

Sanford, who has four sons with ex-governor Mark Sanford, said her family comes first. She also took a swipe at the Republican-controlled House.

"I think my job as mom right now is much more important, much more rewarding and much more productive," Sanford said, according to the Associated Press. "The idea of killing myself to run for a seat for the privilege of serving in a dysfunctional body under John Boehner when I have an eighth-grader at home just really doesn't make sense to me."

Sanford was on South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's short list of possible replacements for Republican Jim DeMint in the Senate. Haley appointed congressman Tim Scott, which created the House vacancy in the 1st Congressional District -- a seat once held by Mark Sanford.

Jenny Sanford's popularity rose after it was revealed in 2009 that her husband, who had disappeared from the state for a few days, was having an affair with a woman from Argentina. Mark Sanford had said he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail.

Jenny Sanford's decision avoids a potentially messy campaign against her ex-husband in the GOP primary.The Weekly Standard reported last week that sources close to the former Republican governor say he will run for Scott's seat, which Sanford held from 1995 to 2001 before being elected governor.

Jenny Sanford, a former investment banker who has never run for office, ran her ex-husband's congressional office and was a top aide in his campaigns. She said Monday she has not decided whom to support, but added her ex-husband is "going to have a number of questions to answer."

Several other Republicans are interested in running for the House seat, including state senator Larry Grooms and former state House majority leader Jimmy Merrill.